


the world was on fire and no one could save me but you

by Erisabesu (ErisabesuFic)



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Complicated Relationships, Drama, KakaIru Mini Bang 2020, M/M, Romance, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-12
Updated: 2020-06-12
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:02:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24675814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ErisabesuFic/pseuds/Erisabesu
Summary: "In a world where soulmates are confirmed through a touch of bare hands, handshakes and hand holding are considered a private display of intimacy, and societal custom dictates the use of gloves at all times.  But Iruka scoffs at stiff old fashioned customs and detests having his hands covered, and he sure as hell won’t stand for any sort of soulmate bullshit.  There’s a lot of love to be found out there without putting stock in useless concepts like fate, destiny or any other mythical load of crap. There’s a lot of heartbreak out there too -- lucky for him, or he’d have nothing to write songs about.In which Iruka is a guitar teacher and pub performer, with a side gig at a friend's shop, and Kakashi is completely bewitched from the first moment they meet."Written for the KakaIru Mini Bang 2020!
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi/Umino Iruka, Umino Iruka & Yamato | Tenzou
Comments: 8
Kudos: 21
Collections: KakaIru Mini Bang 2020





	the world was on fire and no one could save me but you

**Author's Note:**

> It's KakaIru Mini Bang time! :D Please enjoy the prologue of this soulmates kkir story. <333

**“the world was on fire and no one could save me but you”**

♦

[prologue]

Iruka nudged some clutter to the side with his foot, and sat back down in the middle of his living room floor where he’d woken up in a weird position wearing yesterday’s clothes. An airy breeze filtered through the open window, along with the noise of morning traffic commuters on the street four stories down. He sipped his black coffee, and yawned, rolling his stiff shoulders, then blinked the sand from his eyes so he could take stock of his surroundings. 

His guitar and earphones were next to him on the rug, among scattered CD cases and mostly blank sheet music, peppered with wadded up spiral notebook pages with scribbles he could barely remember writing at this moment, bleary eyed and sleep deprived, brain more sluggish than the tar he was drinking. 

Iruka rubbed at his red eyes with the heel of his hand, and drank more coffee, holding the warmth on his tongue before swallowing. His laptop on the coffee table was almost dead. He reached for it, tapping a few keys to wake it back up, wondering if he’d actually written a song last night, or part of one, or if there was anything to show for his efforts aside from the mess all around him.

It was like this whenever he’d been up all night in a manic creative episode that sometimes, if he was lucky, resulted in his best work. He vaguely recalled that there had been something important he wanted to capture in music, something he’d wanted to put to lyrics. But it was all a bit hazy now. He stretched his neck and spine backward against his couch, releasing several pops of tension in a percussive chorus all down his spine.

Just then his phone on the table next to the laptop lit up with Tenzou’s image. Iruka looked at the time on his lock screen, and sat up straight -- it was later in the morning than he’d thought. Shit! Was he late? Wasn’t he off today?

He set down his coffee and swiped to answer the call as he prepared to get up off the floor. “Tenzou, hey, am I scheduled this morning? I’m up but I can be on my way in five--”

“--No worries, Iruka, that’s not why I’m calling.”

“Oh,” Iruka said, balanced on one knee. 

Tenzou cleared his throat. “It’s not about work, but… can you come down here to the shop? As soon as possible.”

Iruka frowned, sitting back on his heel. “Well, sure, I guess I can.”

“Great. Okay thanks.”

“Wait, Tenzou,” Iruka said. “Is everything okay? I mean, what’s this all about?”

“Just… come over. As soon as you can. Please.”

“What do you--?” Iruka started to ask, but Tenzou had already hung up. 

“Graaaaaaaaah,” he sighed in frustration.

Iruka tossed his phone onto the couch and rubbed his eyes again, and then his whole face. Tenzou really hadn’t sounded like himself. Then Iruka’s hands halted, splayed over his features, eyes wide -- he suddenly remembered something significant and the memories pierced through his entire body like a lance. 

Last night, Tenzou had found his  _ soulmate _ . His literal soulmate.

Iruka let out a sharp noise in the otherwise quiet apartment, the kind of pseudo-laugh that came without warning when there was no precedent for how to react. So... yeah. Fuck. That had happened. Tenzou and his soulmate had happened. And Iruka had been stunned. Amused, yes, in a macabre way, but also greatly shocked. 

Iruka sat for a moment, chest tight, hands sliding down his face to grip his knees, mind flooded with images from the scene. He didn’t believe in soulmates, never had. Neither did Tenzou. It was all so farfetched -- fate, destiny, pre-determined by the universe -- who could believe any of that bullcrap? 

But then he’d seen it happen, seen it happen with his own eyes, right there during last night’s pottery class, witnessed by everyone else who was there at the time. They all saw the same thing -- no denying it. One of Tenzou’s students started to slip and Tenzou reached out automatically to help, and then  _ boom _ . Just like that.

So how was Iruka supposed to react, when his best friend had found his soulmate? Out of the blue, not a fluke, but for real? Undeniably real?

Iruka looked around the room, again, taking in the signs of musical frenzy and adrenaline, and lifted an eyebrow. How was he supposed to react? By staying up all night trying to write a song, apparently.

And then Iruka’s brows knit together, glancing at his phone. Hold on a minute. Back up.

Why would Tenzou have called this morning? Why did he want Iruka to come to his shop? Iruka’s brows shot up -- was he going to be fired? Just like that? Because of a soulmate? Was that guy going to be working at the shop instead? Supporting his soulmate’s business?

Iruka’s stomach felt sick. Or was Tenzou calling him over to make a clean break, draw a line in the sand? Push him away so there was room for only that other dude, the soulmate? Were they not even able to be friends anymore? Just like that? 

Is that what being soulmates meant?

Well  _ fuck that _ .

Iruka thought hard about all of this on his way to Tenzou’s shop, helmet and goggles on his head, wind on his face and twisting through his ponytail, the antique blue vespa purring and stuttering under his seat. He and Tenzou weren’t dating or anything, that had always been clear. The occasional night together since college was just that, an occasional night together. So it’s not like they could break up, really. They had made no promises; they were both free agents. Or they were, he supposed, until last night, when one accidental handshake had turned the world upside-down. 

Tenzou was a good guy, though. Honorable. The more Iruka thought about it, he was sure Tenzou had probably called him over to set some boundaries, or ‘do the right thing,’ however misguided that might be. He clenched his teeth. So sex would be off the table -- fine. No big deal. It was just something they indulged in once in a while, not anything that defined their friendship, although it was always pretty good. He couldn’t say he wouldn’t miss it. But sex wasn’t that hard to find, even the good kind. Usually, anyways…

Iruka shook off the annoying memory of his last hookup a couple of nights ago. He wouldn’t be making  _ that  _ mistake again.

As he approached the area where Tenzou’s pottery shop was located, his thoughts returned to his longtime friend. He and Tenzou had known each other for  _ years _ . It wasn’t like Iruka would just stop being Tenzou’s friend now that he had a soulmate, or that he’d get in the way of… whatever was happening now, in Tenzou’s life. 

He wouldn’t do that. Didn’t Tenzou know he wouldn’t do that?

The knots in Iruka’s gut churned and multiplied the closer he got to Tenzou’s shop. The last thing he wanted was to lose someone so important to him. 

Fucking universe. Fucking soulmates. Everything fucking sucked. 

Iruka turned his vespa into the side alley, and pulled around back to the small parking area for staff, next to the garage housing a row of kilns. He left his helmet and goggles on the vespa’s handlebars, unable to worry about theft with the queasy feelings doing laps in the pit of his stomach. At this point he just wanted to get things worked out with Tenzou, whatever that meant. 

“Tenzou?” Iruka called, coming into the building through the back door and looking around Tenzou’s studio space, and then poked his head into the ceramics storage area and glaze room. But everywhere was empty. “Hey, Tenzou?”

“Iruka? In here,” Tenzou called. He sounded calm, which was something positive, anyhow.

Iruka swallowed, and followed his friend’s voice down the hall towards the main classroom area that adjoined the front gallery space. When he turned into the big open classroom, there, seated at one of the canvas covered handbuilding tables was the very last person on earth he’d ever expect to see sitting on a stool next to Tenzou, like it was the most natural fucking thing on a weekday morning, right before the pottery studio was due to open. 

Iruka halted in the doorway. Then he pointed an accusing finger. “Wha--you! Wha--?” 

Iruka’s eyes darted between Tenzou to the asshole he’d met just two nights prior at a pub, a hookup who had apparently followed him to his workplace and --  _ Fuck _ ! Stalking aside, gods only knew what he’d been telling Tenzou all this time!

“Good morning,” Kakashi said, smiling pleasantly like he  _ wasn’t  _ a one-night-stand that had just shown up uninvited to the one place Iruka wanted to keep pure.

Iruka could feel his skin burning with fury, and he clenched his fists at his sides, mind racing over what to explode about first.

“Come on in, Iruka,” Tenzou waved to Iruka. “I think you two have some things to talk about.”

“I do not!” Iruka vibrated, embarrassed and enraged, but somehow he put one foot in front of the other and made his way through the maze of classroom tables over towards the two men. He stopped a good ten feet from them and pointed again at Kakashi. 

“You jerk! What the hell are you doing here? How did you even know I work here?”

“You told me,” Kakashi said.

“No I didn’t!” Iruka fumed, glancing at Tenzou and feeling horribly awkward. “I didn’t tell him,” he said to Tenzou, needing to defend himself of  _ something _ , if he couldn’t defend all of his recent actions. Especially if they’d inadvertently led to this fucked up situation.

“Well you told me indirectly. It was on your guitar case,” Kakashi said. “A sticker for this place,  _ Greenleaf Pottery _ . I googled it.”

“Geh!” Iruka exhaled, face and neck still steaming from the embarrassment of having a one-night-stand show up at his workplace, and right after things were so weird with Tenzou -- this was the absolute worst timing.

Tenzou cleared his throat. “I found him out front this morning with his luggage, waiting for the shop to open.”

“You  _ what _ ?” Iruka swiveled to Tenzou. “Wait,  _ luggage _ ?” He swiveled back to Kakashi, who calmly gestured to the three hard case suitcases and duffel bag on the floor beside him. 

“I need a place to stay,” Kakashi shrugged. “I didn’t have your address or contact info, so this was the only way I knew to find you.”

“You…” Iruka’s eyes widened in realization. “Hah?” he shouted, appalled. “You want to stay with me? Are you freaking nuts? I don't even know you!”

Tenzou lifted his gloved hands in a calming gesture, which Iruka ignored, because as much as he didn’t want to air any dirty laundry in front of his friend, he certainly didn’t want to perpetuate any misunderstandings about what had happened or what was going to happen.

Iruka pinned the man with a steely gaze. “Listen, Kakashi, we hooked up, okay, I admit, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to give you a place to stay, I don’t even  _ know  _ you, it was just a one-time deal--”

“--Iruka, wait--” Kakashi tried to interject.

“--and don’t try to butt in, you made it pretty clear what you were really after the other night after you stormed out and  _ left  _ me in that hotel room by myself--”

“--I can explain that, that’s not the whole story--”

“--so forget it! Find somewhere else!” Iruka finished, crossing his arms and huffing.

Kakashi stood up and grabbed Iruka by the elbows. “Hold on, I said.  _ Iruka _ . Just wait a minute.” 

“Let go!” Iruka shouted, pulling his arms away.

Kakashi’s gloved hands squeezed tight, but not painfully so, and his expression was so… primal, so raw, that Iruka closed his mouth on the retort bubbling up from inside him.

“You  _ do  _ know me,” Kakashi said, staring so intently into Iruka’s eyes that he couldn’t look away. Iruka shook his head, just a bit, and Kakashi sighed. “Yes, you do -- you just don’t remember it.”

Iruka shook his head again, “That doesn’t make any sense--”

“--I thought you recognized me, when I finally found you again after all this time, singing in that pub. And then when I realized that you had forgotten all about me, about us, it just… I got angry. I’m sorry about that.” Kakashi paused, still holding Iruka’s gaze. His grip softened. “I’m really sorry about that, and I’m sorry I left you alone at the hotel.”

Iruka frowned, unsure how to respond, because nothing the man said made a lick of sense but it also didn’t seem like he was lying.

Kakashi cleared his throat. “While you don’t remember, I do -- we  _ have  _ met before. Before the other night I mean. And Iruka… I’m your soulmate.”

Iruka stiffened, mouth opening in shock. "No way -- not possible!"

Kakashi let go of him, and dropped his hands. “Then I’ll prove it to you,” he said. 

Kakashi began to work the leather glove off his right hand, revealing his bare skin. Iruka’s stunned heart lurched back into action, beating at a frantic pace in both fear and incomprehension. 

“Take my hand, Iruka,” Kakashi said, extending his naked hand in the handshake position. “Take my hand, and you’ll see.”

Iruka remained frozen, pulse thudding in his chest, in his ears. What was this man suggesting? What on earth was happening? How could they possibly be  _ soulmates _ ?

Iruka’s face crumbled, anguish spreading throughout his chest, and underneath, a tiny spark of hope that fought for acknowledgement like the prick of a thorn, a splinter under a fingernail. Could it really be true? Could it be possible, after all? Could it? 

Iruka lowered his arms, naked palms clammy and itching. He dragged them on the sides of his jeans, wiping off the sweat, curiosity warring with his natural avoidance of anything that could hurt him, and this -- this could backfire, this could hurt him in so many ways, ways he’d never stopped to contemplate fully because he didn’t believe in this. Soulmates were bullshit. A fantasy. A farce.

Iruka didn’t even know what to hope for -- that he’d feel the so-called “jolt” and recognize this man as his soulmate? Or for there to be no reaction, like he’d always suspected, and always believed? That it truly was all just a myth?

An image of Tenzou finding his soulmate flashed across the surface of Iruka’s mind, taunting him with possibilities.

Kakashi stood there in front of him with his hand out, confident, ready, so sure he knew what the outcome would be, like he could take on the whole world, and for Iruka, he would. It was a challenge, and Iruka’s guts clenched to accept it, to just stick his hand out there and find out the truth.

Slowly, Iruka lifted his right hand, already bare since he generally skipped wearing gloves, finding the common practice an unnecessary nuisance. He angled to meet Kakashi’s hand, glancing up at his face, their fingers almost touching.

Kakashi smiled, waiting for Iruka to close the last of the distance. 

Iruka swallowed. And then he stretched his fingers forward--

And grabbed hold.

♦

tbc!

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading! <3
> 
> Feel free to say hi over on twitter! [@erisabesu3](https://twitter.com/erisabesu3)


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